Quilt shows off work, world of famed Norwich artist Ellis Ruley

Friday

Sep 6, 2019 at 3:10 PMSep 6, 2019 at 6:01 PM

NORWICH — A quilt that shows the works and world of renowned Norwich artist Ellis Ruley was unveiled Friday at City Hall.

Ruley, who lived from 1882 to 1959, was a self-taught African American artist whose works have appeared at Slater Museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Jacob Lawrence Exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The colorful creation is hanging on the City Hall's second floor. About half a dozen of the 24 women who had a hand in creating the nearly 8-foot-square quilt over the past several months removed a black cloth covering it.

"We're all so very pleased," Mayor Peter Nystrom told a crowd of about 30 people attending the unveiling ceremony. "It really captures a lot of what he did. ... It enriches our City Hall very greatly."

Many of the quilt's patches are of Ruley's paintings, which often depict animals and exotic scenes inspired by magazines and TV shows the artist saw.

Other patches depict locations important to him, such as his home on the East Side of Norwich, his 1932 green Chevy coupe, and Ruley himself seated on the lawn in front of Slater Museum on the Norwich Free Academy campus surrounded by paintings for sale.

"The whole design portrays the world he lived in," said Beth Armen Troeger, who designed the quilt with Ruley committee Secretary Shiela Hayes. "It's clearly portrayed that he had a deep affection for the natural world."

"It really has been a collaboration of the work of 24 people," Troeger said.

"You can all see how beautiful it is," committee Chairman Frank Manfredi said.

The quilt is the last accomplishment of a three-member committee that began work four years ago with instructions from the City Council to honor the artist's memory.

The unveiling follows the dedication in July 2018 of Ellis Walter Ruley Memorial Park on the site of Ruley’s home on Hammond Street. Art exhibits also have been held at Slater and at Three Rivers Community College.

"I am so very, very proud of the work that has been done," committee Vice Chairwoman Lottie Scott said. She said it was a daunting task to give a three-member committee, but "we had a community who responded to us. I'm very, very proud that Norwich did justice to Ellis Ruley. We can do anything if we come together and work together."

The committee hopes room is found in City Hall to install 11 poster-size panels about Ruley that had accompanied the Slater Museum exhibit, Manfredi said.

"This has been a tremendous opportunity for the community," Hayes said.

A display at City Hall featuring Ruley-inspired art made by local artists was to be part of the city's First Friday festival in downtown Norwich, Hayes said.

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